The 61st Air Defense Artillery Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI), often called a unit crest, was approved for wear on16 November 1923. To portray the mission’s anti-aircraft mission at the time the insignia was approved, the designer turned to Greek mythology and the story of the sun god Helios and his son, Phaeton. After Helios finally consented to Phaeton’s constant requests to drive the chariot that pulls the sun across the sky, the celestial horses, despising a driver they sense as weak, left the prescribed path and drew near enough to Earth to start fires. At that point, Zeus stepped in and hurled a lightning bolt at the chariot to bring it crashing into the river Po, the first mention of a "hit" being scored against an aerial target.
The shield is divided horizontally by a sawtooth line taken from the arms of Lord Delaware which serve as the basis of the coat of arms for the Coast Defenses of the Chesapeake. Black and white halves, stand for day and night. Unlike most unit crests, the Battalion motto, NON EST AD ASTRA MOLLIS E TERRIA VIA (The Way To The Stars Is Not Easy") does not appear on the insignia. Distinctive Unit Insignia is worn by all Soldiers (except General Officers) in units that have been authorized to be issued the device. It is worn centered on the shoulder loops of the Army Green Service Uniform (AGSU) and the blue Army Service Uniform (ASU, Enlisted only) with the base of the insignia toward the outside shoulder seam. Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia" and 21–3(d) and (e),
"Beret" and
"Garrison Cap," respectively.
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Like many Air Defense Artillery Regiments, the 61st ADAR began its existence as a unit in the Coast Artillery Corps, specifically as the 61st Artillery (Coast Artillery Corps) on 18 March 1918. The Regiment’s exceedingly numerous reorganizations, redesignations, reassignments, breakups, and consolidations make even a cursory description of its lineage too wordy for use here, but the battle honors in its lineage include seven World War II campaign streamers, including two (Iceland 1942 and England 1944) that are relatively rare; it is also credited with a Presidential Unit Citation for the Battle of St. Vith (the (634th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion was specifically cited).
During the Korean War, the Regiment (or units that were annexed or consolidated into it) took part in four campaigns. A lack of readily available public records makes it unclear when the last Battalion of the unit was inactivated, but there are no active 61st Air Defense Artillery Regiment units as of Summer 2023.